Castles

 No less than twenty castles make the Salento area itself into one huge fort, a rock-like bastion, which together with coastal towers and internally fortified farmhouses, have stood against the hundreds of invasions which through the centuries have made this region a conquered land or a land to conquer for Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish, Venetians and Saracens.
The actual lay-out of nearly all Salento’s castles dates back to the Renaissance period (15th and 16th century), even if is often the case that earlier structures have been built into various complexes, as for example in the case of the castles in Copertino, Gallipoli, Otranto, Acquarica del Capo, Presicce, Morciano di Leuca and Roca Vecchia.
Emblematic of this are Lecce’s Carlo V castle (built between 1539 and 1549) and the fortified town of Acaja with its moat and bastions,(in the Vernole zone), just a few kilometres from the regional centre of Lecce. Here we are face to face with two of the finest examples of Renaissance military architecture, not only in terms of the Salento area but nationally, the work of the great architect Gian Giacomo of Acaja, dear to the heart of the same emperor Carlo V. Recently Lecce’s castle has resumed its most natural function of being a cultural centre, something the town is envied for by many provinces.
A mention apart for the castle in Corigliano d’Otranto, a superb synthesis of military practicality and artistic beauty. It is the most decoratively rich in the region and among the most visited and admired castles in the South of Italy.

Fortified farmhouses

Fortified buildings are more common in the south of the peninsular which was for a long time a Christian outpost against the infidels: superb military works remain in Salve (which in 1537 was subject to strong attacks by Algerian Corsairs), Morciano di Leuca (Castromediano Castle), Giuliano and Salignano (Castrignano del Capo), Alessano (fortified residence of the Gonzaga family), Acquarica del Capo, with a Sforzesco castle of the 15th century, Scorrano, Taurisano, Tricase, with the impressive fourteenth century Palazzo Gallone mirrored in style by the intact 13th century castle in Depressa and the 14th century castles of Trane di Tutino, Racale, Parabita, Palmariggi. Otranto also mirrors the Gallone building in style, and with the splendour of its castle and Alfonsine tower, which once witnessed scenes of desperate resistance, the castle of Acquaviva in Nardò, Gallipoli (which includes Byzantine and Angevin fortifications, with Rivellino from 1522 and powerful bastions), Galatone, Copertino (which has a strong 15th century castle, decorated with a triumphal arch and with a Paleochristian crypt annexed), and finally Castro, the castle here was built on the remains of the ancient Roman rock which overlooked the Otranto canal and watched over the sea.

Towers

Consideration of the destiny of the castles requires consideration of the coastal towers and the numerous fortified farmhouses in the Terra d’Otranto area, the former are spread in an ideal chain as sentinels along the Ionian and Adriatic coastlines to sight Saracen ships, the latter strategically placed in the Lecce, Nardò and Ugento regions, protagonists in the 15th and 16th centuries of events on an epic scale (the struggle against Turkish invasion and against brigands of all types, the struggle of the land-owning class against populist threats, the struggle of the peasant for survival).  
The watch and signal towers, built in the late 16th century (the tower at Leverano is older dating back to the 13th century, while, visible from Lecce, the cylindrical tower of Belloluogo and Parco date back to the 14th and 15th century respectively), are, in their severe austerity, real jewels of military architecture and add a great deal of character to the Salentine coast. A tourist comes across them everywhere, and it is always a nice surprise to see them against the skyline, when the sun sets on the sea, a symbol of history which, in this area, tells of pirates, wars, betrayals and defeats. Standing out majestically on the Adriatic coast are the following: we start from Torre Specchiolla (Torre = tower) and go to Torre Rinalda, from Torre Chianca to the remains of Torre Veneri, from Torre Specchia Ruggeri (Vernole) to San Foca and Torre dell’Orso, from Torre Santo Stefano to Torre del Serpe, both in the Otranto district, from Torre Sant’Emiliano to Torre di Minervino (which overlooks the Porto Badisco inlet), from the towers of Diso, Andrano, Tricase, Tiggiano, Alessano to the tower of Omo Morto (Dead man), which survives dauntless at the southernmost tip of the peninsular Leuca, to go on to the Ionian towers, starting from Torre Vado, above the port, Torre Pali almost drowning in the sea, Torre Mozza and San Giovanni (Ugento), Torre Suda (Racale), Torre Sabea in Gallipoli, the spectacular Torre delle Quattro Colonne (tower with four columns) and the solemn Torre dell’Alto in Nardò, clinging to an enchanting promontory where you can look down the coast until it disappears in the distance, finishing with Torre Sant’Isidoro and Torre Squillace, within view of the towers of Porto Cesareo further north.
To complete the architectural panorama of the Salento area the evocative remains of peasant civilisation must not be forgotten, the buildings known everywhere as «paiare» must not be omitted. These «trulli» or conical structures are scattered all over the countryside and for centuries served as shelter for shepherds or agricultural labourers, they were the very first works of anthropography in rural spaces.

A white civilisations

It is these stones, together with other original constructions such as ovens, underground oil-presses of Vernole, Sternatia, Copertino, Cutrofiano, Morciano di Leuca, Gallipoli and Galatina, the dove towers, the «neviere» or stone huts of Lecce, Trepuzzi, Calimera, Acaja, Messapian vases, cisterns, the pointed trulli of Specchia, Otranto and Borgagne, the hay barns of Calimera and Martano, the shelters with steps in Capo di Leuca, the apiaries, the hand crafted vases and wells and the thousands of seasonal shelters made from stone and planted in every corner of the province, that create a white civilisation which is the only true definitive discriminating element of the Salento which symbolises it all over the world. A white, Greek and Mediterranean heritage, which in its stones (from primordial to religious, civil and military architecture) finds its interpretation which is both astonishing and continually alive.